In order to know the recent trend in the expectation of life (ex) in Japan, annual changes and geographical distributions of ex were studied, and the following results were obtained. 1. Annual distributions and regression coefficients showed increases of ex with year, the rates of which were large at old age and of late year. 2. Regression coefficients of differences of ex between ages under 65 years old on year were smaller than those of ex at 65 years old, and elongations of ex at 65 years old seemed to exercise great influence on those under 65 years old. 3. Ranges and coefficients of variation of ex by prefectures were getting smaller year by year, so were the differences of ex between prefectures. 4. Most correlation coefficients between ex at 65 years old and differences of e between ages under 65 years old were not significant, and factors relating to death seemed to differ between ages over and under 65 years old. 5. Correlation coefficients between e and differences of ex between years were negative and significant, suggesting that elongations of ex were large in the prefectures where ex had been short. 6. Correlation coefficients of ex, differences of ex between ages under 65 years old and between years, between sexes were positive and significant, and trends of ex seemed to be similar in each sex.
